Arum trumpets Horn

FOR more than half a century Bob Arum has promoted some of the greatest fights of all time and says with 55,000 people cheering for Jeff Horn, Brisbane’s Fighting Schoolteacher could spring a huge upset over Manny Pacquiao at Suncorp Stadium on July 2.

Arum ( pictured) and Pacquiao will hit Brisbane next week for a whirlwind national promotional tour ahead of the World Boxing Organisation welterweight title bout that pits Queensland’s underdog against the 11-time world champion, who is now a prominent Filipino senator.

Pacquiao is being encouraged to wear a NSW Blues rugby league jersey as he prepares for the fight which will take place 10 days before Origin III at the same venue.

Arum, 85, who was Muhammad Ali’s long-time promoter, says he sat gobsmacked at the Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas in 1978 when Leon Spinks, a veteran of just seven pro fights, took the world heavyweight title from Ali in a stunning upset.

He says Horn has the ability to create a similar shock.

“I watched Horn’s last fight ringside in New Zealand and he’s a very capable young man,” Arum said.

“If his fight with Pacquiao was in Vegas or Madison Square Garden in New York I wouldn’t give him much of a chance because I think nerves would take over against a fighter like Manny.

“But the fact Jeff is going to be fighting in front of so many of his countrymen will calm his nerves and I think he will give a great account of himself.

“Manny is a big favourite but in boxing anything can happen and I have seen a lot of big upsets in my time.”